Oh Nooo, Not once but Twice! Broke Down on the Dalton Highway!

Deadhorse Travel Blog

Waking up at 6:20am was not fun since it stayed light all night. I did sleep ok except for the dream about Alaskan men stealing vehicles! Not sure what made me dream that! haha Our breakfast buffet included scrambled eggs, bacon, oatmeal, fruits and even grits! I thought that was only served in the south! :) We left the hotel at 8:15 and while on our way to the only general store in the area, Greg told us a Polar Bear story with a not so good ending! Well not for the bear, anyways! We had half an hour to get our stash of candy, which included Whatchamocalits, M & M's, peanut butter cups & sweeet tarts. Mmmm.By 9am, we were on the road again, passing work camps of blue trailers and the roads were gravel and muddy. They would be very dusty if they were dry. People are only here to work and they do 12 hour shifts with no days off for 2 weeks and then get 2 weeks off and then back to work for 2 weeks.

the pipeline

We passed Lake Coleen which was frozen with a pretty sky and then passed Pump #1.This would be the first of many pumps we would see along the hightway as we made our way south. Excitement arose in me as we reached the Dalton Highway.This is, of course, one of the most deadliest highways in North America! Greg stopped and let us get off the bus to take pictures of the sign. 240 miles to the next town, Coldfoot with 50 being the speed limit! This road started as a gravel dirt road and the landscape was covered in snow with flares on the sides. Greg alerted us of our 1st wildlife spotting: Caribou!They were in the distance on the right side, of course I was sitting on the left! But then a huge herd appeared on my side.

the sun was trying to shine

(which was also the sunny side) I got quite a few pictures as they grazed peacefully in the snow. 2nd wildlife spotting was a Tundra Swan, snowgeese and turnagin. The snow became slightly lesser as we headed south.

11:30am We stopped for a picture at mile marker 355 and the bus was stopped for a few minutes. While we were taking our pictures, we heard our guide attempting to start the bus. When we were back on, Greg announced, "We have a situation!" The bus wouldn't start! WHAT!!! He had turned off the engine and was going to restart it because the windows on the right side had frost on them and wouldn't clear. He had done it a couple times before and was fine, but not this time! We were over 50 miles away from Deadhorse and not even near our destination. Broke down on the Dalton Highway... what would we do???? Bernie started reading "Oh No, we're gonna die!", a book Greg had on the bus. I wonder why??? To be continued...